Learning and Working at my Best

Many years ago, I had a fantastically colorful dream. In this dream I had a space of my own that was both a bedroom and a library. Bookshelves stretched into every corner and nook of the room. The room contained all kinds of reading spaces and was rich both in its feeling of safety and its practical conveniences, such as microwave, refrigerator, and bed. The colors of the book bindings  matched even more spectacularly the quilts my Mom had made and all the colorful decorations in the room. I could have stayed in that room reading for days or weeks – without an unmet need – or so the dream went. Then….

In 2011, at my second Amplify Your Effectiveness (AYE) Conference, my Korean agilist friend, June Kim, introduced me to Clean Language coaching. Clean Language questions allow one to develop a vision or solve a problem very quickly using metaphors.  I allowed June to try a few clean questions on me, and within 5 minutes, in answer to one of his questions, I had a building with a grand library that had cropped up in my path of learning. This reminded me of that ancient dream, long tucked away as a mere hope. Since my kids were now more grown, and I had time, I began constructing my library and started reading more.

Over time, the books provided me intellectual and motivational fuel for my journey as an agile coach.  The conferences and retreats allowed me to make connections to new ideas and new people.  This really represents me both learning and working at my best.

My new career journey as an agile coach started with a dream, AYE, June’s interview and many amazing books in 2012. The  colorful reading den image is a reminder that when I get off course, I can always come back to this cycle.   This way, I can go out and reach  people with my heart and listening, my models and skills again and again, without tiring.

 

What do you do, as a coach, to be at your very best for your next gig or goal?

---

I’ve compiled a list of a few of the  books that have MOST influenced me as it relates to coaching and consulting.

The overarching questions these books addressed are:

 

how does listening affect some one else’s ability to think?

 

how does coaching and curiosity contribute to one’s ability to learn, change, experiment ?

 

how is it that making direct and congruent contact with one another is the key to successful teams, organizations, and products ?

 

• Non-Violent Communication, A Language of Life –  Marshall Rosenberg
• Time to Think, Listening to Ignite the Human Mind – Nancy Kline
• The Fifth Discipline – Peter Senge
• Presence Based Coaching, Cultivating Self-Generative Leaders through Mind, Body, Heart – Doug Silsbee
• Coaching Plain and Simple, Solution-Focused Brief Coaching Essentials, multiple authors
• Making Contact – Virginia Satir
• The Satir Model – Virginia Satir
• Discussing the Undiscussable  -William Noonan
• Software for Your Head, Core Protocols for Creating and Maintaining Shared Vision – Jim and Michele McCarthy
• Creating Time  and Closing the Me You Gap– Vickie Gray
• Clean Language   Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds– Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees
• Most any Jerry Weinberg book to be found here
• From Contempt to Curiosity, Creating the Conditions for Groups to Collaborate Using Clean Language and Systemic Modeling – Caitlin Walker, 2014 (this book added to this post in Dec 2017 – 4 years after original posting date of this list.

 

 

Explore posts in the same categories: Book Review, Career, Personal Growth

Tags: books, change, Coaching, learning

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.